the windy city

This past weekend Sean and I drove to Chicago! :] It was great. 


Not that anyone needs an excuse to go to this wonderful city, but we happen to. It was one of my best friends, Em, 21st birthday on Saturday. Background story: Em and I were random roommates in the dorms freshman year. We then roomed together sophomore year and have [and of course will] remain wonderful friends. 


I got the day off on Friday and Sean and I headed out to Em's hometown just north of Chicago. Once we finally arrived we all hung out the remainder of the night and of course took her to the bar at midnight for some legal drinks! 

The next day Sean and I drove into Chicago to see the notorious Bean and do some shopping. We took a few Starbucks breaks [it was seriously hot outside] and stopped for the obvious lunch of choice... pizza! 

 view on the ride in

 classic

When early evening came around we met Em and all of our friends from Iowa [and Em's friends / now my friends from her home town]. We all got ready and headed out on the town! 

First stop: Signature Lounge on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Building. The view of the city lights was beautiful. We stayed here for a drink and headed to the next few places.

Second and third stops: Two clubs also downtown. Someone in our group has a friend who works at these clubs and got our whole group in for free... we celebrated right! 


Fourth stop: A tiny, whole-in-the-wall bar. The DJ even came around asking for song requests. 


Fifth stop: BED. Needless to say, it had gotten to be the wee hours of the morning and we were feeling it.  


Mid morning Sunday Sean and I took off for Iowa, with a pitstop at Ikea along the way - some apartment shopping was necessary :]. 


Overall it was a GREAT weekend. It is always fun to get away for a bit and I absolutely love Chicago. Getting to spend time with some of my favorite people was much needed. I love birthdays and was excited to help Em celebrate hers all weekend long. 

Summer Lovin'

1. Dig the new blog look? Simple & bright.
2. Happy 4th :] 
3. Life update:


This summer is flying by. I can hardly believe I only have a month of work left! Speaking of work... my job/internship is going great! The organization I work for does events: meetings, conferences, travel incentive. Very similar to my internship last summer, I'm learning just how much I learned last summer which is great. My duties are very random, but that is 100% fine with me as long as they keep me busy :]. I mostly help prepare for the meetings, which includes a lot of things on excel, word, researching things (such as restaurants or events for the participants to go to), and of course packing things up to go to the meetings (they are all over the U.S.). A few weeks ago I actually got to attend a meeting! When I was hired I was not sure if I'd get to attend one, I am so happy I did! It was in Kansas City and I learned a lot... it was great to be able to see how the meetings function, what responsibilities the travel staff has on site, and to have an important role myself in making sure everything was running smoothly and the participants were happy (that is the most important part after all). The culture of my workplace is wonderful. I actually know quite a few people that work there (I found this out after I started), and even though I don't know everyone, they all greet me like an old friend when passing in the hallway. It is so comfortable! I am learning a lot about how these kinds of events are planned... I think it is definitely something I want to go into. It is all about experience so I feel very lucky :]. 


Beyond working, this summer I am mostly hanging out at home, planning sorority recruitment for APhi, or going up to visit friends and Sean at UNI. I have an apartment up there with three other Alpha Phi's, and the two apartments next door are our friends as well. Once everyone moves up for the school year it is going to be SO much fun, I can't wait! 

 Haley and I at the outdoor amphitheater seeing the Nada's

 visiting UNI...Emilee, Cat, Sarah, Me, Denison

 Kelly & I

Em & I 

Jill, Haley, and I

Sean & I

The farthest I've gone this summer is to Wisconsin a few weekends ago to visit my friend Hannah from Dublin! A six hour drive solo. Totally worth it though, we had so much fun! It was great to see her and reminisce on Europe. We even skyped Elliot for a bit and had ourselves a little tea party...so Irish. We had a bon fire (that lasted a total of 20 minutes because it died, but we each got a s'more out of the deal...and 30+ bug bites on our legs...they bit through our jeans), went shopping, out to eat, to a movie, and of course to a tour of the Leinenkugel's brewery. Or as they all call it in Wisconsin, "Leinie's." If you want to sound out of place in Wisconsin, go ahead and call it by its full name. Here's a few pictures from our weekend (all taken from my phone, sorry if they aren't the best): 

 tea for two

 Cleopatra... such a doll

 halfway between the equator and the north pool, who knew how crazy things could get in Wisconsin?

La Granders... you either eat in: your car, a gazebo, a bench, a picnic table, or a swing. Loved it. So small town and adorable.  

 Hannah and I! after the lake, and the only picture we took the entire weekend (oops).

 La Granders is known for their root beer so I obviously had to get a mug with my chicken sandwich and onion rings

 Leinie's Lodge! one of my samples. 

 the brewery

 original foundation 

illegal photo of the store room. i believe she said these pallets are out in under a week. thats a lot of Leinie's. 

And there you have the highlights of my Wisconsin trip! 

The only other trip I have planned this summer is to CHICAGO! I love that city, I am so excited. It is Em's 21st so we're going downtown to celebrate. I think Sean and I may try and make a weekend out of it which would be so much fun! Plus that means we'd get to stop at Ikea on the way out of town... hello apartment decor :]. 

Vienna, Austria

Oh my goodness...summer is already slipping away. I can't believe it has been so long since my last post - I'm sorry! You see, this summer I have what people call...a full time job! 40 hours a week. 8-5. 6am alarm. That type of thing. So I have been quite busy and tired, but I can assure you this blog post will be great because it is about Vienna. My favorite European city [next to Dublin, of course]. 


Oh, Vienna. Where to begin? This was the first city I traveled to solo. For three and a half days. To be honest, I was pretty nervous. I knew I could do it, but who wouldn't have a few butterflies? It turned out to be absolutely amazing. The weather was great [most of the time], I got to do what I wanted, when I wanted, and the architecture was unbelievable. 


The first day I walked around to get an idea of the neighborhood I was in and where the city center was from me. I also ate a great little mexican restaurant where the waitress advised me to sit up at the bar so I could talk with her and the other waitress and wouldn't be so alone...how nice :). The next day I went on a walking tour of the city and then took the metro to a palace! 

 chapel in the middle of the the Naschmarkt (most popular market in Vienna, right across from my hostel)

 museum

 art school Hitler attended and i believe was kicked out of for being an awful artist

 the opera! i didn't attend, but if you ever do...go to the ticket box on the side about an hour before, you can get the left-overs for super cheap :] 

 huge cathedral, unfortunately under reconstruction 

 inside

 the PALACE

 doesn't it look fake?

 i didn't go inside the palace since i had just been to the one in Madrid, i figured they would be very similar. i decided to walk around the palace grounds instead [it was HUGE, i probably didn't see 3/4 of it and i walked around for an hour]. anyway... it started raining a bit, so i opted to use my scarf for a hood :) 

 it looks like the giving tree :]

 at the top of the hill directly across from the palace... i'm unsure of its purpose

 the view

 i did the whole, ask a couple if they'd like me to take their picture so they'd take mine, thing. 

 and then i did a labyrinth, because what else was i going to do 

 stones that give you harmony when rubbed..

the goal of the labyrinth was to find the stairs to the look out tower in the center. it actually took me about 15 minutes, kind of cool! 

The next couple days I walked around Vienna a lot and discovered my tour guide on day one left out a lot of important and beautiful areas. I was so happy I found them! I also went to a few museums in which I discovered are actually very enjoyable alone. I could take all the time I wanted to look at the art...I spent an entire hour in one [maybe slightly laughable but that was a big step for me!]. Enjoy the rest of the photos!

 my favorite building... the National Library. i usually don't regret, but i sure wish i would have actually gone inside

 little church in the middle of the city

 beautiful quartet on my walk home

museum time! 

 the belvedere museum

 fountain shot from the middle of a huge metal sculpture 

 cathedral 

 i went to a butterfly house! it was closed the day i came across it but i went back the next. best five euro i've ever spent! beautiful butterflies freely flying all around you. can you say happy place? 

 action shot: two blue ones in the bottom right corner

 setting the scene: on a walk i heard music and saw tents through this gate

 when i walked in, this gorgeous museum was on my right...

 ...and this festival was on my left! a stage, food and drink tents, people of all ages everywhere enjoying the music and weather. how great to come across a little community of families, friends, and couples in the middle of this big city. i definitely stood and enjoyed this for quite some time :] 

 i love this one 

And that concludes Vienna! I am missing Europe like crazy. I couldn't even tell you exactly what I miss...just everything. It still feels like those four months were a dream. 

Paris is next and that will finally conclude my long, very drawn out blog posts of my Europe trip. I promise to try and do my final post in a much more timely manner. And then I will be able to give an update on summertime and life :]. Until then, it is about my bed time now that I am practically a grown up. Good night and happy summer!